102 



ALONG LAKE RUDOLF 



all day, and now and then flecked 

 witli foam. It would have been 

 dangerous to attempt navigation 

 with the bora-like east wind 

 blowing perpetually, and was not 

 to be thought of with our light, 

 fragile canvas boat. Throughout 

 this day's march we had on our 

 right the steep, often perpendi- 

 cular slope of a ridge running in 

 a southerly direction, and the 

 mountain chain shutting in the 

 lake on the west was equally 

 rugged and barren. 



After three hours' tramp we 

 came to a creek, once the mouth 

 of a stream which had flowed 

 from the adjacent highlands, but 

 the bed of which was now dried 

 up and encumbered with debris. 

 On the beach and in the lake at 

 a distance of from 100 to 150 

 paces from the shore were the 

 remains of a considerable amount 

 of vegetation, whilst in the ravine- 

 like upper course of the brook 

 channel there still grew a few 

 acacias and tree euphorbias. We 

 chose our camping-place by a 

 little patch of sward, the first sign 

 of anything like grass we had 

 seen since we started in the morn- 

 ing. This sward had narrow. 



